It is common practice to provide a sump or reservoir in a basement floor to accumulate excess fluids such as rain or flood water. Once the water has reached the sump, it must be removed by a sump pump to an alternate location, usually outside the house or into a drain. However, if the sump pump ceases to operate due to a mechanical or power failure, nothing can be done to empty the sump unless there is expensive back-up power available, such as a generator. Without such back-up, the water will continue to rise above the level of the sump and will eventually leak out deleteriously and overflow onto the basement floor. As should be appreciated, overflow of the sump due to the failure of the sump pump can be messy and damaging to the surrounding basement premises.
Accordingly, it is especially desirable to provide overflow protection for a sump pump system which can handle the extra accumulation of water and considerably delay the time in which the water will leak out onto the basement floor, making it much less likely that overflow will occur before the sump pump is restored. It is also desirable to provide an overflow protector wherein auxiliary electrical or mechanical power is not required.